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Will a second location help this historic Olvera Street taqueria survive?


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Around the same time foot traffic slowed on Olvera Street in March 2020 — no children on field trips, no tourists flocking to the historic site to taste and shop their way through L.A.’s Mexican history — owners of the brightly colored storefronts began packing up their embroidered dresses and marionettes and closing their shops, and Diana Robertson began to worry about the fate of her 86-year-old restaurant.
The family also owns the restaurant directly across from the original taco stand, Las Anitas, which they did shutter for a few months during the pandemic; they couldn’t afford the utilities for the larger commercial building.
Robertson sees the Lincoln Heights location as the family’s fail-safe, though there’s no way it can sustain the Olvera Street restaurants alone, and the space isn’t permitted to have indoor dining.
Over the years health codes changed; all that can be offered is takeout food.
With eyes glued to phones and computers, fixated on whatever is new and immediate and photogenic, the family wonders whether those stories and connections to their restaurant will continue.
“The space, the location — I can’t ever imagine another place being there.
Cielito Lindo has been serving taquitos since 1934. It’s known for the beef taquitos and the signature avocado sauce. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)